Sentencing Misbahuddin Ahmed

"But for the fact that Mr. Ahmed has been convicted for terrorism offences rather than some other serious offence, he would likely be considered an appropriate candidate for a conditional (non-custodial) sentence."
"You and your family, and particularly your wife and three young children, owe a deep debt of gratitude to CSIS and the RCMP. But for their vigilance and unceasingly hard work in frustrating your evil plotting, you might well have developed into a truly dangerous subversive responsible for the deaths of innocents. Had you acted on your evil intentions, you would be justifiably reviled by all law-abiding members of civilized society."
"You will now have ample time to reflect on the fact that you enjoy the immense privilege of living in one of the great democracies in the free world. Whether you know it or not, you are a lucky man."
Superior Court Justice Colin McKinnon

Misbahuddin Ahmed back in court for terrorism charges sentencing

"Nobody who gets a sentence like that is feeling god. But he is a man of faith and he is going to continue to do all he can to get back to his family and be a contributing member of society."
Defence Lawyer Mark Ertel

"Canadians are safer after this process than we were in 2010 when these two convicted men Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh and Misbahuddin Ahmed] were conspiring."
Crown prosecutor Jason Wakely

Crown prosecutor Mr. Wakely had urged that a prison term of 20 years be imposed upon Misbahuddin Ahmed, the penalty to be served for having been found guilty by a jury of two of the three charges brought against him relating to terrorism. The former Ottawa Hospital diagnostic-imaging technician was found guilty of the charge of conspiracy to facilitate terrorism and of facilitating terrorism.

His partner, acknowledged to have been the leader among a trio of men originally facing a handful of terrorism-related charges, had been sentenced to 24 years in prison. The third co-conspirator was found innocent of charges lodged against him; Khurram Sher was held to have been an unwitting and unwilling member of the jihadist group, who, though he became aware of what was afoot, did nothing whatever to alert authorities of a potentially impending terror strike within Canada.

Their apprehension and arrest and subsequent trails arose out of a yearlong combined CSIS/RCMP investigation and surveillance operation representing the country's most extensive anti-terrorism investigation after 9/11. Police charged that the plotters meant to build improvised explosive devices. Mr. Alizadeh, who had travelled abroad to receive training and had knowledge of explosives-building was the leader.

Justice McKinnon felt that the requested 20 years for Mr. Ahmed would represent an "injustice", crediting the man with the 12 months served, and reducing his sentence to 11 years. Justice on the mild side for someone whose activities could very well have inflicted major damage within Canada and taken the lives of many innocent people.